At least 21 people were found dead in a Mexican town close to the border of United States after a suspected drug gang shootout, Reuters reported on Thursday. At least 17 of the bodies had extensive burns.
Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the killings appear to have been part of a dispute between gangs, reported Independent.
The bodies were found on Wednesday in the border town of Miguel Aleman, which is about 90 km from McAllen in Texas where United States President Donald Trump visited on Thursday to win support for his plan to build a border wall, AFP reported.
Security spokesperson for the state of Tamaulipas Luis Alberto Rodriguez said a shootout between two criminal groups on Wednesday had left 21 people dead. “Some of them were burned,” he said. “Seven vehicles were also located... It was a confrontation between two rival groups that are involved in a turf war over drug-trafficking routes.” The Mexican army found the bodies in a remote area following a tip-off, he said.
Irving Barrios, the state’s attorney general, said that authorities found semi-automatic weapons and bulletproof vehicles at the site, according to Reuters. Spokesperson for the state police, Luis Rodriguez, said it appeared that gunmen from the Gulf cartel had fought with members of the North East cartel, a group that split off from the drug cartel Zetas.
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